Deploying and configuring AWS Organizations

What is AWS Organizations, and how does it enable governance across multiple AWS accounts?

AWS Organizations is a service that allows you to centrally manage and govern your environment across multiple AWS accounts. It provides policy-based management for multiple AWS accounts, enabling you to automate account creation, create groups of accounts to organize your workflows, apply policies for these groups, and simplify billing by setting up a single payment method for all your accounts. This enhances governance, compliance, and security for your AWS resources.

How would you implement a policy to restrict specific service actions across all accounts within an AWS Organization?

You would implement a Service Control Policy (SCP) within AWS Organizations to restrict specific service actions across all accounts. SCPs allow you to define the maximum permissions for member accounts in the organization, effectively establishing guardrails that all accounts must comply with, regardless of their individual IAM policies.

Can you briefly describe the process of creating a new account within AWS Organizations?

To create a new account within AWS Organizations, you would first access the AWS Organizations console, then click on the “Add account” button. From there, you have the option to either invite an existing account to join the organization or create a new account directly. When creating a new account, you need to provide the account name, email address, and optionally, the IAM role name that the organization’s master account can use to access the newly created account. Once submitted, AWS will set up the new account as part of your organization.

After setting up AWS Organizations, what steps would you take to ensure all member accounts are protected by default with a baseline level of security?

To ensure all member accounts are protected with a baseline level of security, you would apply Service Control Policies (SCPs) at the root or organizational unit (OU) level to enforce certain security practices across all accounts. For example, you could apply SCPs to restrict access to certain regions, enforce encryption requirements, and ensure logging with AWS CloudTrail is enabled. Additionally, you could automate the deployment of AWS Config rules to monitor compliance with your security policies.

What is the purpose of an Organizational Unit (OU) in AWS Organizations, and how might you use it for security purposes?

An Organizational Unit (OU) is a container for accounts within AWS Organizations that allows you to organize and manage accounts into groups and to structure your AWS accounts into a hierarchy that matches your business needs. For security purposes, you can apply Service Control Policies (SCPs) at the OU level to enforce uniform security controls across all accounts within that OU. This enables segmenting policies based on the sensitivity of resources or compliance requirements.

How can you delegate administrator permissions for a specific AWS service to an IAM user in a member account managed by AWS Organizations?

To delegate administrator permissions for a specific AWS service to an IAM user in a member account managed by AWS Organizations, you would create a policy in the master account that grants the necessary permissions for the service. Then, you would attach that policy to a role within the specific member account. An IAM user in the member account can then assume this role with the appropriate permissions to administer the service.

When configuring AWS Organizations, what considerations should you take into account to ensure cross-account access and security?

When configuring cross-account access within AWS Organizations, you should consider the following to ensure security:

• Use cross-account roles with strict permission policies to enable access between accounts.
• Implement Service Control Policies to place restrictions on actions that can be taken within member accounts.
• Enable AWS CloudTrail logging across all accounts for security monitoring and implement centralized logging to retain and analyze these logs.
• Regularly audit IAM policies and cross-account roles for unnecessary permissions.
• Use AWS Config for continuous compliance checking across accounts.

How does AWS Organizations help in cost management across multiple AWS accounts?

AWS Organizations helps in cost management across multiple accounts by providing consolidated billing, which enables you to combine the usage across all accounts in the organization to share volume pricing discounts, reserved instance discounts, and saving plans. You can also set up budgets and alerts using AWS Budgets to monitor and manage costs across the organization. Additionally, SCPs can be used to prevent actions that could result in unintended expenses, such as launching high-cost instances.

Can you explain the significance of the “deny” policy type in AWS Organizations and how it might differ from “allow” policies?

The significance of the “deny” policy type in AWS Organizations, specifically Service Control Policies (SCPs), is that it explicitly blocks certain actions or access to resources regardless of IAM permissions attached to users, groups, or roles in individual accounts. SCPs do not grant permissions but set the maximum allowed permissions. In comparison, “allow” policies in IAM grant specific permissions to entities and need to be explicitly stated to enable actions. SCPs are used as guardrails to provide preventive controls, while IAM policies provide granular permissions within those guardrails.

When integrating AWS Organizations with other AWS services, what are some best practices to enhance security?

When integrating AWS Organizations with other AWS services, best practices to enhance security include:

• Enable AWS Security Hub for a centralized view of security alerts and security posture across your AWS accounts.
• Integrate AWS Organizations with AWS Config to maintain an inventory of AWS resources and monitor compliance with your organization’s policies.
• Use AWS CloudTrail with organization-wide logging enabled to track changes and API calls for auditing and forensic analysis.
• Implement automated response and remediation mechanisms using AWS Lambda in conjunction with Amazon CloudWatch Events or AWS Config rules.
• Encrypt sensitive data using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) and ensure that data at rest and in transit is protected across all accounts.

Describe a scenario where you would utilize both AWS Organizations and AWS Control Tower together, and explain the benefits of doing so.

AWS Organizations and AWS Control Tower can be utilized together to streamline the setup and governance of a multi-account AWS environment. A scenario where you would use both is when setting up a new, large-scale organization that requires strong governance and a standardized environment. AWS Control Tower builds on top of AWS Organizations and offers predefined blueprints for security and compliance, automates the setup of new accounts with guardrails, and simplifies the management of multiple accounts. The benefits of using them together include automated account provisioning, consistent policy enforcement, easier compliance with regulations, and a unified dashboard for monitoring the organization’s accounts.

What would be the steps to disable a service from being used in all AWS accounts within an organization?

To disable a service from being used in all AWS accounts within an organization, you would:

• Create a Service Control Policy (SCP) that specifically denies access to the service in question.
• Apply this SCP at the root level of your AWS Organizations. This will ensure the SCP affects all Organizational Units (OUs) and accounts under the root.
• The SCP should include a statement with “Effect”: “Deny” and “Action”: set to the particular service or services you wish to disable, e.g., “s3:*” for Amazon S
• Ensure that there are no other SCPs attached at different levels (OU or account) that might override this policy with an ‘allow’ that could conflict with your intended restrictions.